A European Union battlegroup
(EUBG) is a military force consisting of at least
1500 combat soldiers.[1]
Fifteen battlegroups have been established, most of which
consisting of multi-national contributions. The groups rotate
actively, so that two are ready for deployment at all times. The
forces are under the direct control of a unanimous European
Council (heads of state, or often heads of government of
countries where the head of state is largely a symbolic position,
of member states) of
the European
Union (EU).

The battlegroups reached full operational capacity on 1 January
2007. They are based on existing ad hoc missions that the European Union
(EU) has undertaken and has been described by some as a new
"standing army" for Europe.[1]
The troops and equipment are drawn from the EU
member states under a "lead nation". In 2004, then Secretary-General of the United Nations,
Kofi Annan, welcomed
the plans and emphasised the value and importance of the
battlegroups in helping the UN deal with troublespots.[2]

Contents

Background

The initial ideas for the Battle Groups began at the European
Council summit on 10-11 December 1999 in Helsinki. The Council produced the Headline
Goal 2003 and specified the need for a rapid response capability
that members
should provide in small forces at high readiness. The idea was
reiterated at a Franco-British summit on
4 February 2003 in Le Touquet which highlighted as a priority
the need to improve rapid response capabilities, "including the
initial deployment of land, sea and air forces within 5-10 days."
This was again described as essential in the "Headline Goal
2010".

Operation
Artemis in 2003 showed an EU rapid reaction and deployment of
forces in a short time scale - with the EU going from Crisis
Management Concept to operation launch in just three weeks,
then taking a further 20 days for substantial deployment. Its
success provided a template for the future rapid response
deployments allowing the idea to be considered more practically.
The following Franco-British summit in November of that year stated
that, building on the experience of the operation, the EU should be
able and willing to deploy forces within 15 days in response to a
UN request. It
called specifically for "battlegroup sized forces of around 1500
land forces, personnel, offered by a single nation or through a
multinational or framework nation force package.

On 10 February 2004, France, Germany and the United Kingdom released a paper
outlining the "Battlegroup Concept". The document proposed a number
of groups based on Artemis that would be autonomous, consisting of
1500 personnel and deployable within 15 days. These would be
principally in response to UN requests at short notice and can be
rapidly tailored to specific missions. They would concentrate on
bridging operations, preparing the group before a larger force
relieved them, for example UN or regional peacekeepers under UN
mandate. The plan was approved by all groups in 2004 and in
November that year the first thirteen battlegroups were pledged
with associated niche capabilities.[3]

Tasks

The groups are intended to be deployed on the ground within 5-10
days of approval from the Council. It must be sustainable for at
least 30 days, which could be extended to 120 days, if
resupplied.[4]

The Battlegroups are designed to deal with a those tasks faced
by the CSDP, namely the Petersberg
tasks and the tasks from the European Security Strategy:
Humanitarian and rescue tasks, peacekeeping, tasks of combat forces
in crisis management, including peacemaking (the Petersberg tasks),
joint disarmament operations, support for 3rd countries in
combating terrorism, security sector reform operations as part of
broader institution building (the European Security Strategy
tasks).

Planners claim the battlegroups have enough range to deal with
all those tasks, although such tasks ought to be limited in "size
and intensity" due to the small nature of the groups. Such missions
may include conflict prevention, evacuation, aid deliverance or
initial stabilisation. In general these would fall into three
categories; brief support of existing troops, rapid deployment
preparing the ground for larger forces or small scale rapid
response missions.[5]

Structure

A battlegroup is considered to be the
smallest self-sufficient military unit that can be deployed and
sustained in a theatre of operation. EU Battlegroups
are composed of approximately 1500 troops; plus command and support
services.

There is no fixed structure, a 'standard' group would include a
headquarters company, three infantry companies and corresponding
support personnel. Specific units might include mechanised
infantry, support groups (e.g. fire or medical support), the
combination of which allows independent action by the group on a
variety of tasks. The main forces, extra support and "force
headquarters" (front line command) are contained within the
battlegroup "package", in addition there is the operation headquarters, located in
Europe.[6]

Contributions

Larger member states will generally contribute their own
battlegroups, while smaller members are expected to create common
groups. Each group will have a 'lead nation' or 'framework nation'
which will take operational command, based on the model set up
during the EU's peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo (Operation Artemis). Each group will
also be associated with a headquarters. Two non-EU NATO countries,
Norway and Turkey, participate in a group each.

The initial thirteen battlegroups[4]
were proposed on 22 November 2005, further groups have joined them.
The declared groups are as follows:

The Visegrád Group (Poland, Hungary, Czech
Republic and Slovakia) are considering a joint battlegroup as of
April 2007[13].
There are plans to extend the concept to air and naval forces,
although not to the extent of having a single standing force on
standby, but scattered forces which could be rapidly assembled.[14]

Denmark has an opt-out clause in its
accession treaty and is not obliged to participate in the common defence
policy. Also Malta currently
does not participate in any battlegroup.

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Niche
capabilities

The following Member States have also offered niche capabilities
in support of the EU Battlegroups[15]:

France (structure of a
multinational and deployable Force Headquarters)

Further details on
specific contributions

Sweden and Finland announced the creation
of a joint Nordic Battle
Group. To make up the required 1500 number, they also urged Norway to contribute in the
battlegroup despite the country not being part of the EU. Recently,
the number has been raised to 2400 troops with Sweden providing
2000 of these. According to Swedish newspapers the price for the 6
months in 2008 was 1,2 billion Swedish kronor (app. 150,000,000
EURO) and the battle group was not used.[16]

The battlegroups project is not to be confused with the
projected Helsinki Headline Goal force,
which concerns up to 60,000 soldiers, deployable for at least a
year, and take one to two months to deploy. The battlegroups are
instead meant for more rapid and shorter deployment in
international crises, probably preparing the ground for a larger
and more traditional force to replace them in due time.

Standby
roster

From 1 January 2005 the battlegroups reached initial operational
capacity: at least one battlegroup was on standby every 6 months.
The United Kingdom and France each had an operational battlegroup
for the first half of 2005, and Italy for the second half. In the
first half of 2006, a Franco-German battlegroup operated, and the
Spanish Italian Amphibious Battlegroup. In
the second half of that year just one battlegroup operated composed
of France, Germany and Belgium.[17]

Full operational capacity was reached on 1 January 2007, meaning
the Union could undertake two battlegroup sized operations
concurrently, or deploy them simultaneously into the same field.
The battlegroups rotate every 6 months, the roster from 2007
onwards is as follows[18];